A service member of pro-Russian troops walks near an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 28, 2022. REUTERS
KRAMATORSK,听鲍办谤补颈苍别鈥�Russia was poised Monday to take the strategic city of Mariupol and unleash a massive offensive in eastern Ukraine, as fresh diplomatic efforts with Moscow to broker a peace offered little hope of deescalation.
With the war grinding toward its seventh week, Austria鈥檚 leader said he had raised alleged Russian atrocities as he became the first European leader to visit President Vladimir Putin since the invasion began.
Ukraine says more than 1,200 bodies have been found in devastated areas around Kyiv, with authorities pursuing 鈥�500 suspects鈥� including Putin and other top Russian officials.
Seven bodies were found Monday under the rubble of two multi-storey buildings in Borodianka, in the Kyiv region, the state emergency service said, bringing the total to 19.
French investigators arrived in Ukraine to help probe suspected war crimes, as the European Union earmarked 2.5 million euros ($2.7 million) to the International Criminal Court for future Ukraine cases.
Russia is believed to be trying to connect occupied Crimea and Moscow-backed separatist territories Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas and has laid siege to Mariupol, once a city of more than 400,000 people.
鈥淭oday will probably be the last battle, as the ammunition is running out,鈥� the 36th marine brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces said on Facebook.
鈥淚t is death for some of us, and captivity for the rest,鈥� the brigade added, saying it had been 鈥減ushed back鈥� and 鈥渟urrounded鈥� by Russian troops.
Appealing to South Korea鈥檚 National Assembly for military assistance, Ukraine鈥檚 President Volodymyr Zelensky told lawmakers Russia had 鈥渃ompletely destroyed鈥� the city and 鈥渂urned it to ashes鈥�.
鈥淎t least tens of thousands of Mariupol citizens must have been killed,鈥� he said.
Russian forces are turning their focus to the Donbas region in the east, where Zelensky said Russian troops were preparing 鈥渆ven larger operations鈥�.
鈥楲ogic of war鈥�
Weekend strikes hampered evacuations in and around Kharkiv in the northeast, killing 11 people including a seven-year-old, the regional government said.
Russian missiles nearly obliterated the airport of Dnipro, an industrial city of one million around 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the south, according to local authorities.
Lugansk governor Sergiy Gaiday said a missile strike Friday on a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk that killed 57 people had left many afraid to flee.
鈥淵ou are alive because a Russian shell has not yet hit your house or basement 鈥� evacuate, buses are waiting, our military routes are as secure as possible,鈥� he wrote on Telegram.
Russia has denied carrying out the strike, as well as involvement in any other war crimes.
The US defence department reported a Russian convoy that had been observed heading for Izyum, an hour鈥檚 drive north of Kramatorsk, saying it appeared to be a mix of personnel-carriers, armored vehicles and possible artillery.
On the diplomatic front, EU foreign ministers met Monday to discuss a sixth round of sanctions, with concerns that divisions over a ban on Russian gas and oil imports could blunt their impact.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said his meeting with Putin at the Russian leader鈥檚 residence outside Moscow was not 鈥渁 visit of friendship,鈥� adding that he 鈥渕entioned the serious war crimes in Bucha and other locations鈥�.
He added that he was 鈥渞ather pessimistic鈥� about the chances of diplomacy, describing Putin as having 鈥渕assively entered into a logic of war鈥�.
US President Joe Biden held virtual talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just weeks after saying New Delhi had been 鈥渟haky鈥� in its response to the invasion.
鈥淭here were conversations about how to mitigate the destabilising impacts of Putin鈥檚 war, including on food supply, where India is in a position to assist,鈥� a US official said.
鈥楶revent one massacre鈥�
The EU鈥檚 top diplomat Josep Borrell said Russia is responsible for the escalating global food crisis because of its bombing of wheat stocks and preventing ships from carrying grain abroad.
And the World Trade Organization cautioned separately that the war could almost halve global trade growth this year.
Despite Kyiv鈥檚 allegations of Russian atrocities, Ukraine鈥檚 Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told US news network NBC on Sunday he was still open to negotiating with Moscow.
鈥淚f sitting down with the Russians will help me to prevent at least one massacre like in Bucha, or at least another attack like in Kramatorsk, I have to take that opportunity,鈥� he said.
Bucha 鈥� where authorities say hundreds were killed, some with their hands bound 鈥� has become emblematic of the brutality allegedly inflicted under Russian occupation.
More than 4.5 million Ukrainian refugees have now fled their country, the United Nations refugee agency said 鈥� 90 percent of them women and children.
At least 183 children have died and 342 were wounded in Ukraine in 46 days of the Russian invasion, the prosecutor general鈥檚 office said on Telegram.
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